By the end of the first evening of City of North Bay budget deliberations, the committee had reduced the tax levy increase over 2024 from 5.5 per cent to 3.96 per cent via a plan to use reserves.
See preview: 2025 BUDGET: Deliberations begin with 5.5% tax levy increase
The reduction would have been even more pronounced but several service level increases were approved throughout the night, bringing the working levy increase number back up to 3.96 per cent with more budget meetings scheduled through Thursday.
One such service level change included in the recommended operating budget was the creation of a new position — a Freedom of Information/Records Management Program Coordinator — in the City Clerk's office.
"Given the increasing demands on the City Clerk’s office, there is significant justification to request an enhancement to the compliment of the City Clerk’s office by adding one additional staff member whose major responsibilities will be to deal with MFIPPA requests, coordinate records management and records retention, as well as assist with some Deputy Clerk duties.
"In preparing this enhancement request, the City Clerk’s office has consulted with Human Resources to establish a draft position description and salary grade. The title of the proposed position would be Freedom of Information/Records Management Program Coordinator with salary and benefits of $101,550 but will be
annualized for eight months ($67,700) in the 2025 budget. The expected hire date is May 2025."
There were no objections from the members of North Bay City Council in adding and funding the position.
According to the budget documents, in 2024, the Clerk's office had a staff of four: the city clerk, deputy city clerk and two administrative staff. The clerk and deputy clerk prepared for and attended approximately 64 meetings. The office is also responsible for council secretarial duties, keeping statistics and records, and runs municipal and school board elections.
The city clerk also heads Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) requests. According to the supporting report, "Over the years, the number and complexity of the requests and Third Party Consent reviews have increased dramatically, as have the number of appeals filed by requestors. In addition, the City has more than 170 video surveillance cameras located throughout the City, the video content of which falls under MFIPPA. The City Clerk is responsible for reviewing all footage upon request from the North Bay Police Service. On average, the City Clerk receives 88 requests for information annually and this number is continuing to increase at a rapid rate."
The request for the new staff member noted the City Clerk's office is "working beyond capacity and finds itself unable to fulfill all its responsibilities including, but not limited to, the role of Head of MFIPPA, records management and retention, and updating and maintaining by-laws and policies of significant importance to the
Corporation."
See related: City Hall tells citizen activist to go FOI himself
In an odd twist, one of the council's fiercest critics, Don Rennick, was once instructed by the CAO of the day to file Freedom of Information requests rather than pester City of North Bay staff with questions and requests.
See also: Harassment of municipal staff, 'frivolous and vexatious' requests top reasons for FOI reform
The meetings are open to the public and begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Mayor's Boardroom on the fifth floor of North Bay City Hall. The initial meetings tend to run until about 9 p.m. There is no live stream available for this week's deliberations.